


Some Friendly Advice

by GinnyRoxtheBurrow (WelshCakes68)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Post-Half-Blood Prince, Post-Half-Blood Prince AU, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-25
Updated: 2015-03-25
Packaged: 2018-03-19 14:20:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3613188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WelshCakes68/pseuds/GinnyRoxtheBurrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A look into how Harry is coping with his situation during Bill and Fleurs wedding and on seeing Ginny Weasley again. Also, Harry gets to see Ginny's interactions with a close friend who he'd never noticed before who also gives her some well needed friendly advice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some Friendly Advice

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote and posted this nine years ago on SIYE. Time does fly! Here's a bit of fluff.

The sun was slowly setting over the wooded area surrounding the Burrow. The last rays of sunlight were gliding through the trees and lighting up the garden where the wedding had taken place, and now, where the reception area was and all the invited guests and family were congregating.

The dance floor was littered with guests dancing; some alone, some paired, some grouped, some excited, some embarrassed, some intoxicated. Others were sitting around the lantern lit tables chatting animatedly, some were filling their plates with Mrs Weasley’s ‘home cooked’ fine cuisine. However, some people were doing none of these things. Harry Potter was sulkily standing in a darkened area out of the way from all the happy activities.

His attention was focused on a beautiful young woman in a gold bridesmaid’s dress on the dance floor, dancing with the groom. Harry had to admit to himself that as hard as their discussion had been after Dumbledore’s funeral and how hard it had been to walk away from her then, now it seemed _that_ much harder to look at her and not pull her into his desperate embrace. She was merrily dancing with her eldest brother Bill, both wearing identical looks of joy which suddenly made him acknowledge their relation and similarities. He had never felt so lonely as he did at that moment.

Hermione and Ron were sitting at a table speaking quietly to each other and throwing each other shy glances with a slight reddening to their cheeks. This, unfortunately, only made Harry feel worse. He and Ginny had been having a bet on whether Ron and Hermione would get together. Harry said that they were all too close for anything like that to happen between them and Ginny had said that Harry was denser than Ron. Looking at them like that brought the bet back to him and now he realised that not only did it look like he had been hideously wrong but also that now he probably couldn’t even go up to Ginny and laugh about it like they would have or have her gloat to him. They hadn’t spent more than five minutes in the same room since he had arrived at the Burrow.

Harry turned his head away so he could find a less depressing view to focus on. He spotted Neville over by the food table loading up his plate in a way that would have made Ron proud. He briefly considered going over to talk to his long-time friend then realised that he probably wouldn’t be very good company at the moment.

Luna Lovegood was also in attendance talking to Tonks and Remus. She seemed to have cornered them and from what snippets he caught were talking to them about the ‘hunt for the rare and wild Snout-Nosed Frambon’ though both were smiling pleasantly enough with their arms wrapped securely around the others waists.

Harry smirked slightly at the quirky blonde and then noticed that he wasn’t the only one watching her. Neville was numbly holding food up to his mouth and chewing though it looked like he wouldn’t notice if there was actually food in front of him or not. _‘What do you know? Neville has a thing for Luna. Though looking at him now, I have to wonder why I never noticed it before. I really am dense.’_ He thought to himself.

His attention went back to the dance floor and he now saw that Bill was dancing with Gabrielle, Fleur’s younger sister, Fleur was dancing with Mr Weasley, Mrs Weasley was dancing with Mr Delacour and Charlie with Mrs Delacour. He looked around the entire area, scanning and summing the place up as if he were searching for the Golden Snitch on the quidditch pitch but, alas, there was no vivacious redhead wrapped in gold to be seen anywhere.

He considered going off looking for her but stopped himself when he realised it was now none of his business where she was or who she was with. His emerald eyes darkened as he thought back to the handsome blonde cousin of Fleur’s who was clearly ogling Ginny when he arrived with his family from France. The urge to find her intensified and then simmered again once he thought of a scene that he might find and really not want to bear witness to. The beast inside of him let out a loud grieving whimper.

 _‘None of this is fair!!!’_ His head screamed. He desperately just wanted to be a normal seventeen year old, dreading NEWT’s and looking forward to the new quidditch season. _‘Is that really too much to ask?’_ He wondered.

His depression was growing and inside the beast was slowly starting to cry away his sorrows.

He came to the decision that just as soon as he could put his mind to rest about Ginny and that blonde prat definitely _not_ being together then maybe he could just sneak upstairs unnoticed and try to slip away from this nightmare reality. He scanned the dancefloor, the tables and the surrounding area and could see no blonde prat; well, at least not the right one.

He was fuming. No longer was the beast in his belly crying, he was now howling and spitting fire in rage. _‘He had best not be anywhere near Ginny’_. He thought to himself viciously.

He threw himself out of the darkness in search of the two but hoped he would only find the one redhead. As he wove his way through the crowd he saw that Luna was now in conversation with the twins who looked as though they were wondering if someone was trying to prank them judging by the looks on their faces. Tonks and Remus were walking away from their previous spot with their shoulders bobbing as though they were laughing and it seemed as though everyone on the dancefloor had swapped partners again.

As he walked he tried to think where Ginny would run off to in the middle of the festivities. Suddenly, her voice swam in his head from a conversation they had had before. **'I’ve always loved the clearing in the woods around the Burrow. It’s always so beautiful when the sun is setting. I just feel calm and you definitely need that in house like mine just to get away from it all, you know?'** A satisfied smirk spread across his face. _‘That will almost certainly be where she is as the sun is setting and I’m sure I know where that place is. Ron took me there to show me the pond nearby on my first summer here visiting.’_

He set off to his destination hoping he wouldn’t get lost; the summer before his second year had been a long time ago after all. He finally made his way through all the moss and branches while stepping on dry leaves and twigs and hearing them snap under his weight. He made it to the clearing and just caught the end of the most beautiful sunset he had ever seen in his life. He could understand why Ginny loved it here so much. It didn’t surprise him that she would appreciate something as small and simple as that.

He looked around to trying to catch a glimpse of gold in the slowly darkening woods and he found it sitting by the pond facing west to catch every last ray of light before it vanished. She looked beautiful. Even more so than earlier in the dying light of the day. The dress she was wearing seemed to make her skin glow and set her hair ablaze which fell in lightly curved tresses down her back. He tootied down behind a tree trunk and observed her, peacefully, without fear or unease.

To his relief she was alone but then a dark figure started to emerge from her side and he was now fearful for her. He was just about to spring from his spot when he recognised the figure as Neville. _‘I hadn’t even noticed he was gone from the party when I left.’_ Ginny seemed totally unfazed by the appearance of the dark figure and hadn’t even turned her head from the now gone sunset.

“Hey, Ginger-Bear.” He muttered.

 _‘Ginger-Bear?!?!? Ginger-Bear?!?! What the hell is that?!?!’_ He thought to himself confused and, for some reason, envious.

“Hey, Horny-Toad.” She whispered back with a smirk on her face and turned around to look at him.

_‘WHAT?!?!’_

“Eurgh. You still determined to call me that, huh? Couldn’t you come up with something a little more…manly.” He stated as he sat down next to her.

“And what would you suggest?” She enquired with a cool air about her.

“Well, I don’t know.” He started as a thoughtful look spread across his face. “Nev-Man? Gryffindor Guff? The Incredible Mr Neville?”

She giggled to herself as he read out his ideas. “Ah yes. They simply roll off the tongue.”

“Well the last one might be a push but I think we could make it work.” He replied with a chuckle of his own.

Harry was quite surprised. He had known Neville for going on six years now and he had never noticed that Neville had such a sense of humour and even less so that it seemed so similar to Ginny’s dry style. 

“I guess I could give it a try.” She responded quietly.

They were silent for a while, just looking out onto the pond as the lily pads skimmed the surface and the small fish below glided gracefully through the water. Harry was very confused now. He had known, of course, that Neville had taken Ginny to the Yule Ball and that he had gotten attacked by the Inquisitorial Squad in his fifth year by trying to help her but he had never known that they were like this with each other. From what he was seeing now he would say that their relationship was of a deep and meaningful yet laidback friendship.

“So what is the life and soul of the party doing out here in the woods by a pond when there is a raving party going on just down the hill?” He enquired breaking the silence and looking directly at her.

“I dunno’ Nev. You tell me. After all, _you’re_ the one that followed _me_ out here.” She quipped back coolly looking down at her feet.

Harry had to chuckle behind his hand at her humour; he had missed it so much. Neville, however, seemed less than amused.

“Gin?” He said in the sternest voice he had ever heard come from Neville’s mouth.

She closed her eyes briefly and when she opened them again they were fixed on Neville. “I just wanted some quiet time by myself. Is that so wrong?” She asked quite defensively.

“Finding it hard being so close are you?” Her eyes narrowed sharply on him in an accusatory way. “Hey,” he started, holding up his hands, “I’m not judging you in the slightest. I can only imagine how it feels.” Her eyes went down cast and she curled up and hugged her knees to herself. “Gin, maybe you should talk to him.” He said while placing a calming hand on her shoulder.

“What good would it do? Once you’re dumped it’s pretty much finalised.” She stated dejectedly.

Harry felt his stomach plummet. He didn’t want to just assume that it was him she was talking about but now it hard to ignore. He felt crummy with himself at the tone of voice she was using. So defeated. And the way she had said ‘dumped’; she’d practically spat it out. But it wasn’t like that. It wasn’t like he dumped her, more like he called a halt until things were safer for her. _‘God Potter, what a big difference that would make for her.’_

“I’ve never known you to give up on something so easily. Frankly, I’m disappointed in you Gin.” Neville stated with a mocking shake of the head.

Both Harry’s and Ginny’s heads snapped up to Neville at that point. Ginny looked fit to burst which was probably the reaction Neville was looking for. _‘Whoa, Neville really does know Ginny well. He’s goading her. That’s the best way to try to get her to change her mind on something. I’m impressed.’_ Harry thought to himself with slight awe.

Ginny had realised what he’d done and tried calming herself before she spoke. “It’s not as simple as that, Neville.”

“It is if you want it to be.”

“No, it’s not Neville.” She started standing up. “Deciding to end a relationship doesn’t need to be a unanimous decision. Only one person needs to make that choice and he’s made it; end of story.”

He stood up also which put him half a head over Ginny. “Maybe if you just told him how you feel, he might change his mi…”

“No! No way. Absolutely not.” Ginny argued back immediately.

“But it might change things for him.” Neville tried to argue reasonably.

“It won’t.”

“How do you know?” Neville pushed.

“I can’t be selfish about this.” Ginny reasoned desperately.

“There’s no such thing as selfish when it comes to love.”

She froze and so did Harry. He didn’t want to breathe just in case it was heard. She slowly and rigidly turned to face Neville. There was a resigned, hardened look on her face that was tinted with sadness that made Harry’s heart want to break.

Harry could tell that she was biting on the inside of her mouth and was searching for the right words. “If I told him now, he’d either get angry at me for telling him, confused or guilt ridden for not being able to say it back. None are good conditions to go into battle in.”

There was dead silence now. Even the crickets had stopped chirping. Harry didn’t want to move. Ginny loved him? Is that what all that meant? Or was he just being dense again and jumping to the wrong conclusion?

It was Neville who broke the silence. “How do you know he wouldn’t say it back?”

Her brow creased at his query. “Huh?”

“I said, ‘How do you know that he wouldn’t say it back?’”

“Well…I…uh…”

“You know what I think? I think you’re just scared to tell him, full stop.”

“I am not scared!” She shouted, clearly aggravated.

“Oh yeah? Prove it.” He goaded with an unfamiliar smirk on his face.

They simply stared at each other, having a standoff of sorts. He had his arms crossed in front of himself rather smugly while she had her hands on her hips in irritation. Then, out of nowhere, a huge smirk that reminded Harry all too well of the twins spread across her features and her hands came down by her side. “Fine.”

“Fine?”

“Yeah, fine.” She responded with a smile so wide she looked like the cat that got the cream. “We can do it together.” She said and started pulling on his robes to get him to follow her back to the party.

“Together?” He responded confused. “You mean like, I go with you?”

“No, silly. I mean that I tell Harry I’m in love with him and you tell Luna that you’re in love with her.” She replied accompanied by a harder yank on Neville’s robes.

“WHAT?!?!” He yelled digging his heels into the ground to slow them down.

“What? You’re not seriously going to deny it to me, are you?”

“Well…I…uh…”

“Not scared are you…Nev-Man?” She goaded with a huge grin.

His heels slowly became shallower in the dirt and he was being dragged along with a new look of resolution on his face.

“Fine.”

“Fine?”

“Yeah, fine. Let’s go.”

“Okay then, show me some off that Gryffindor guff, Incredible Mr Neville.” She said challengingly as they left the wooded area and got out of sight.

Harry slowly came out of his hiding place just in case they weren’t really gone. When he was sure they were, he stepped out of the cover completely. He was in total shock. He had discovered so much this evening. Neville and Ginny were apparently a lot closer than anyone had ever noticed; or at least anyone that would tell him. He wondered if even Hermione knew just how close the two truly were. And then there was Neville being in love with Luna. Neville and Luna? He wondered if the feelings were reciprocated. Maybe they were. Thinking back over the evening he had caught Luna looking at Neville as many times as he had caught him looking at her so maybe.

He was going over the smaller things he’d learnt tonight first and he knew he was doing it, so as to give himself more time, but now as he had gone over everything else he had learned, there was nothing else to distract him from the thought. _‘Ginny is in love with me? Ginny, is in love, with me. GINNY LOVES ME!’_ This felt unreal. He honestly hadn’t thought, hadn’t wanted to believe that Ginny’s feelings were that deep. Who knew? Well Neville apparently did. He wondered if he knew-knew or just guessed-knew. Maybe both. Maybe they had discussed things before now. Maybe he had been trying to convince her to admit things for a while. That was a lot of maybe’s and he was getting dizzy from it. If she was in love with him then no wonder she had taken him finishing things so personally. Not that ending a relationship is ever fun but she had seemed fine at first then apparently it had changed. What was he doing still sitting here anyway? The girl of his dreams went off to find him to tell him that she loved him.

He got up suddenly and started a sprint then stopped again abruptly. _‘But what will I say back? Am I in love with her? If she’s still in danger should I just avoid her for the rest of the night so she can’t say it? No, I can’t do that. It’s far too hard; on both of us it seems. So now all I have to figure out is if I love her too.’_ He tried to bring images of Ginny forward in his head. Ginny smiling, Ginny laughing, Ginny mad, Ginny scoring a goal with a quaffle, Ginny playing chess, Ginny revising for her OWL’S; no matter what he thought of he couldn’t bring forward a single image of Ginny that didn’t make him smile and feel giddy inside from. _‘That certainly sounds like love to me. I am. I mean, I do. I’m in love with her.’_

Harry was shocked by his own conclusion. He had never truly felt this way about anyone and thoughts of her were now assaulting his brain a hundred miles a second and he couldn’t stop them, and more importantly, he didn’t want to. _‘That’s it. I have to tell her. When she tells me I’ll tell her. Or maybe I’ll tell her first to shock her.’_ He grinned smugly to himself and started running full pelt down the little hill to where the party was.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, I hope you all enjoyed!


End file.
